John Deere at 2018 Derby

Over 180 years John Deere has made history and helped make America who it is today!

The World Championship Derby Track is honored with their presence and thankful for their historical impact!

1837-In Grand Detour, Illinois, blacksmith John Deere hears farmers’ concerns that their plows, designed for the sandy soil of the eastern United States, aren’t shedding the thick prairie soil. In response, Deere fashions a highly polished steel mold board from a broken sawblade.

1886-Founder, John Deere, dies at the age of 82. Just a few months before, he tells someone that “during his long life it had been a great source of consolation to him to know that he had never willfully wronged any man and never put on the market a poorly made article.”

1931-Responding to the impact of The Great Depression, the company took on $12 million in farmer notes, and extended terms on already purchased tractors and power farming machinery.

1943-Deere makes military tractors, ammunition, aircraft parts, and cargo and mobile laundry units during World War II.

1971-Nothing Runs Like a Deere™ advertises snowmobiles, a new product of the John Deere Horicon Works. The slogan lasts far longer than the snowmobile line, which is sold in 1984.

2018-John Deere will be riding strong at the Vintage & 55th Anniversary of the World Championship Snowmobile Derby by delivery service to the Corporate Suites and onto the World Famous track to rescue broken snowmobiles and maintain the track’s safety.